Time for War on the War on Terror

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Citizen Voices

The business of the United States has come to be none
of our business. Most disheartening and
gut-punching about Bush's strongman tactics is the ease with which he pulled it
off. The war mongering was recognized, analyzed and written about from the
start & ndash; but chest thumping trumps rational argument in a primate world.

The spectacular plotting, execution and images of 9/11 gave
terrorism a new brand name & ndash; global jihadism.

But terrorism was a paramagnet
global reality before 9/11. Modern technology grants any psychotic individual
(the sad, the depressed, the lonely, the righteous, the evil, the misguided,
the disgruntled) the ability to air their grievances by way of catastrophic
violence. (What weapons of mass destruction will the brooding, computer savvy
teenager of 2108 be able to manufacture in his bedroom?) The threat of
terrorism is a discomfort Earthlings will have to live with forever. Does this
then mean that the War on Terrorism must last forever? Does this mean every
future U.S. president will be a Wartime President?

The War on Terror is incoherent, little more than a semantic
dodge. Just like the War on Drugs and The War on Poverty & ndash; the War on Terror is
a convenient political slogan that has transformed the Executive branch into
something monstrously powerful.

Historically, presidents don't like to relinquish powers
that their predecessors gained for the office. The next president, Democrat or
Republican, will have a great many difficult choices. None more important than
restoring the system of checks and balances & ndash; and shining light on undisclosed
locations and policies.

The red phone is ringing and it's time for the next
President to pick it up on day one and announce that The War on Terror is over.
Maybe then we can get back to the business of protecting the United States
from future attacks.

- Citizen Voices blogger
Chris McConnell
is a bookseller, freelance writer, & former & high school & English teacher & and odd jobber who lives in La Jolla.